Welcome to ICFTO

One of Iran’s longest-serving political prisoners Gholam Hossein Kalbi started the 21st year of his life imprisonment sentence in Sheiban Prison of Ahvaz.

The authorities have not granted him any prison leave in the past 20 years, despite his serious medical issues that require treatment.
Gholam Hossein Kalbi was arrested in the city Dezful in January 2001 for being a member of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

Following his arrest, Gholamhossein Kalbi was held for 14 months in solitary confinement in a detention centre run by the the Intelligence Department in Ahvaz, the capital city of Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran.

Then he was transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran.

He was sentenced to death by the Branch 6 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. . Gholam Hossein Kalbi’s death sentence was commuted to life mprisonment in 2006.

Political prisoner Ayyub Porker who is serving his term in exile in Shaiban Prison of Ahvaz, started his 13th year in prison this month. He has served his term without one day of furlough.

Ayyub Porkar was arrested in January 2009. The Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death on the charge of Moharebeh (i.e. waging war on God) through collaboration with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) on November 28, 2009. His sentence was eventually commuted to 20 years in prison by the 36th Branch of the Appeals Court.

The Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced Mr. Porkar to death essentially for his opinions and beliefs, his lawyer said at the time. He was sentenced to death for his “effective efforts for the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran” while they failed to prove his membership in the organization or his effective efforts.

During his detention, Mr. Porkar was repeatedly pressured by his interrogators and torturers to appear in televised confessions and renounce his beliefs. But he did not give in to these demands.

The Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran examined the case of political prisoner Kamran Rezaii-far on Monday, 28 December 2020. He was arraigned with the charge of Moharebeh (waging war on God). The judge presiding the case, Amouzad, threatened him with death penalty during the court session.

Political prisoner Kamran Rezaii-far was arrested on charges of “propaganda against the state” and “having contact with the People’s Mojahedin Organization (PMOI/MEK),” but his indictment was subsequently changed from “propaganda against the state” to “sowing corruption on Earth” and “Moharebeh.”

Kamran Rezaii-far, born in 1965, is a mechanic. His married with children. The mullahs’ Intelligence Ministry arrested him in January 2020 for alleged ties with the PMOI/MEK. They interrogated him in wards 240 and 209 in Evin Prison.

The Iranian Judiciary issued an arrest warrant for a victim of violence against woman.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Abadan, Branch 7, ordered the arrest of a woman who was badly injured after inhumane treatment by a security agent in the Berim District of Abadan late last October.

Simultaneous with the arrest warrant issued for Ms. Bahareh Cheshm Berah, her assailant, Mehdi Kazemi, was exonerated, her lawyer and a journalist from Khuzestan reported.

On October 22, 2020, a video clip circulated in social media of a young woman in Abadan with bloodied face being held on the ground while a security agent for the Oil Company touched and put his foot on her chest. The victim was later identified as Bahareh Cheshm Berah.

The Social Security Organization’s retirees held protests in at least 11 provinces and 22 cities across Iran on Sunday, 3 January 2021. Women widely and actively participated in these protest gatherings.

The Social Security Organization’s retirees gathered outside the buildings of the General Department of Social Security in Tehran and capitals of Fars, Kurdistan, Alborz, Qazvin, Razavi Khorasan, East Azerbaijan, Hamadan, Lorestan, Isfahan, Kermanshah, and Khuzestan provinces.

They also held protests in Neishabur, Haft-Tappeh, Qom, Shush Danial and Arak.

Maryam Akbari Monfared started her 12th year in prison on Wednesday, 30 December. She is a political prisoner jailed in Evin prison since 2009 without one day of furlough.

Maryam Akbari was arrested at 3 a.m. on 30 December 2009, after the major upheavals on December 27 that year which nearly toppled the clerical regime.

In June 2010, the 15th Branch of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced her to 15 years in prison on the charge of “Moharebeh (waging war on God) through membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran,” a charge which she never accepted.

She was detained for nine months in solitary confinement in the Intelligence Ministry Ward 209, the Methadone Ward and the women’s ward of Evin Prison. She was relocated to Gohardasht (Rajaishahr) Prison in October 2010 and subsequently moved to the notorious Qarchak Prison in April 2011.

Three prisoners have died in Evin Prison in Tehran in the period between 24 & 28 December. The three prisoners suffered from the COVID-19 but they had been abandoned by Evin dispensary officials without any medical treatment.

On Monday, 28 December, Amir Hossein Mottaghian died of COVID-19 in Ward 4 of Evin Prison. He fell down on the ground and went unconscious. He died after being transferred to the dispensary. The clinic officials said he had died of heart stroke.

He had referred to the dispensary on 27 December, and asked for treatment, but the clinic authorities had sent him out. After 24 hours, he fainted and his fellow inmates took him to the dispensary but it was too late.

Prisoners protested his death due to lack of medical treatment, but the prison’s doctor and clinic authorities dealt badly with the protesting prisoners.

Based on the report from Evin Prison, Prison guards brutalized political prisoner Afshin Shahsavari. The guards continued to beat him even after he went unconscious due to the severity of beatings.

Apparently, political prisoner Afshin Shahsavari was brutalized just because of his support for ordinary prisoners in the quarantine. Prison guards beat him in the head and face. That is why he went unconscious. He suffered a broken skull. He also suffered fracture in his eyebrow. His shoulder blade was dislocated and his body was bruised. He is presently abandoned in Evin Prison’s quarantine in critical conditions.

Jalal Mobini, Mehdi Mahmouli, and another guard by the last name of Amrollahi, are three prison guards involved in this brutal treatment.

A second death sentence has been issued for political prisoner Shaker Behrouz based on a new cased filed against him. Mr. Behrouz is presently detained in the Central Prison of Urmia.

The First Branch of the Penal Court of Urmia issued the second death sentence on Saturday, December 26, for political prisoner Shaker Behrouzi on the charge of murdering Mamel Mohammadi, an IRGC member.

His trial was held on Wednesday, 9 December 2020.
Shaker Behrouzi, 32, is single and comes from Dizej of Urmia.

The family of the victim do not have any complaints against Shaker Behrouz and do not believe that he is the murderer. They have even declared that they are ready to testify about this in any court. But intelligence services have threatened to withdraw the aid granted to the family of the victim, who was an IRGC member, if they do not complain against Shaker Behrouz.

On the other hand, 12 other citizens from Dizej village are also prepared to testify that Mr. Shaker Behrouz was in his shop at the time of murder and he was not at the site of murder.